Made a batch of venison bacon in a square from a bake pan with a temp prob in it and all looks well when sliced and tastes good. Put it in the freezer for a few months and take it out to cook it and the center of the meat is brown and that brown tastes bad. What could be the cause? Recipe has canning salt, brown sugar, powdered gelatin and pink cure. Could the brown sugar or gelatin be the problem. Thanks

Sounds like the centre of the meat did not cure. What was your recipe? How long did you cure the meat for? Percentage of cure and salt to meat weight?

Also, I don't understand what the gelatin was for? Was it a formed loaf of ground meat that you were trying to make into a bacon type product?

More questions than answers right now I know, but more information will help to figure out what happened. If you can answer some of these questions I can help you come up with a process that will produce quality bacon.

My best guess is the gelatin prevented transfer of the cure. Having never made a loaf bacon with gelatin I can not say for sure.

My suggestions: 1) Cure the cubed meat with the salt and cure first for a few days in the fridge before grinding. This will ensure the meat is fully cured. 2) When I began I was using tablespoons etc for measurement but it is so inaccurate. Most salts - kosher or pickling salt in particular - can vary in grain size. So for example, 1 tablespoon of one type can actually be 2 tablespoons of another. It is far more accurate to weigh in grams for a percentage. So, say you use the same amount of meat above, I would calculate the cure as follows:

4lbs = 1814 grams.

Salt = 2.5% (you can go to 2% or even up to 3% for saltier bacon)
Sugar = 1-2% (I use 1% in this example)
Cure 1 = 0.25%

So we calculate percentage to grams by multiplying 1814×percentage. For your recipe it would be:

Salt = 45.35 grams
Sugar = 18.14 grams
Cure 1 = 4.35 grams

If you want to try the recipe again, I would suggest you pre-cure the meat, grind, add your gelatin and water, set the loaf, smoke it. If you want your total salt level to be 2.5% exactly just subtract the 4.35 grams of cure from the total salt level of 45.35 to 41 grams. Note also that the cure level in commuted meats with that percentage will be 156 PPM. This is exactly where you want to be for your cure level to maintain safety of the meat. You do not need any more cure than that and, it may in fact be dangerous to use more as you will increase nitrosomine production.

But I will say that an overnight cure sure seems fast. Most recipes for curing bacon will say to cure for 5-7 days. My best, educated, guess is that the curing process was way too short._________________Somewhere in Kenya...a village is missing their idiot.

But I will say that an overnight cure sure seems fast. Most recipes for curing bacon will say to cure for 5-7 days. My best, educated, guess is that the curing process was way too short.

I would agree with normal whole muscle bacon but remember this is a ground meat product. Typically, grinding and mixing your cure throughout the meat will require a 24 hour curing time (as with making sausage). If you pre-cure say 1" cubes of meat, I would aim for 2-3 days max to ensure the cure takes as well as the 24 hour period for the loaf to set. By pre-curing the cubes you will also find the myocin production to be easier and your mix of ground meat will develop a better bind. Pre-curing the cubes will also have the added benefit of ensuring a more equal distribution of the cure. When mixing your meat and cure, how long did you mix for? You likely want it to be mixed like sausage meat, develop enough myosin that the meat becomes very tacky.

OK I will give it a try with your thoughts on this. Also I might just do a batch without the gelatin. THANKS

I'm guessing the gelatin is used so as to hold it all together and allow it to have some bend to the formed bacon rashers without falling apart. My instinct tells me to try it first with my suggestions AND the gelatin and see what happens. Please share the results either way as I'm interested to see how it all turns out